Last season, we were lucky enough to witness the Islanders do what most people thought was impossible. They swept the normally intimidating Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs, only to feel the same fate as they were then swept by the “Bunch of Jerks” in the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Islanders struggled mightly in the second round: goals were hard to come by, the defense was short on our end and they spent a large amount of time short-handed. The question here is why? Why did a team who came into the season as an easy choice for the Draft Lottery make the playoffs, sweep one of our biggest rivals, and then get handed the same fate just one round after?
The most obvious reason why the Islanders got swept is the fact that they had too much rest. More than a week off is an extremely long rest period for teams. When a team is on a winning streak, players are motivated and want to keep playing and, more importantly, winning.
For the Islanders to sweep and then have to come to a halt during the intermission between the end of the first round and the beginning of the second round, it can confuse teams and have them slow down a bit going into the second round.
Another reason why the Islanders found the second round to be a struggle is that Carolina’s playing style is very similar to the Islanders, and the Islanders tend to struggle when playing teams that play a similar game to them.
When someone thinks of the Pittsburgh Penguins, they think of the obvious names: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, and Kris Letang however, when someone thinks of the Hurricanes, there are very few players that stick out: Sebastian Aho being the main ones.
Despite not having the names in bright lights like the Penguins have, the Carolina Hurricanes have a dominant group of players, some forwards scoring upwards of 60 points this season, and the same group putting together double-digit totals in the playoffs.
That may seem very familiar because it is similar to the way that the Islanders are formatted. Mat Barzal, Anders Leeand Ryan Pulock may stick out to many, but there were many players scoring at a pace that set career highs. For example, Casey Cizikas put up the first 20-goal season of his career this year, and barely anyone around the NHL noticed.
When the Islanders faced the Penguins, they knew they needed to keep players like Crosby off the score sheet, and they did that as the shutdown pairing of Pulock and Adam Pelech allowed for Crosby to tally one assist during the four-game sweep. When it came to the Hurricanes, the Islanders found themselves playing chase-me hockey as they struggled to figure out who they should defend against, and it resulted in panic, stress and goals.
If the Islanders can train themselves to learn to play teams that have a similar playstyle to their own, it should result in an increase in numbers both on the standings and on the ice. If they are able to successfully do that, it should allow the Islanders to have a better season overall, which can help lead them to the drive 4 five.

David Lazar